KENNY
by
LEONA DALRYMPLE
Author of _Diane of the Green Van_, _The Lovable Meddler_
Illustrated by Joseph Pierre Nuyttens
The Reilly & Britton Co. Chicago
Second Printing September 10, 1917
[Frontispiece: Joan]
CONTENTS
I Brian Rebels II The Unsuccessful Parent III In the Gay and Golden Weather IV God's Green World of Spring V At the Blast of a Horn VI In the Garret VII The Blossom Storm VIII Joan IX Adam Craig X A Notebook XI The Cabin in the Pines XII Thraldom XIII Kenny's Truth Crusade XIV In Somebody's Boat XV In Which Caliban Scores XVI Tantrums XVII Kenny Disappears XVIII Brian Solves a Problem XIX Samhain XX The Chair by the Fire XXI The Shadow of Death XXII In the Cabin XXIII A Miser's Will XXIV Digging Dots XXV Checkmate! XXVI An Inspiration XXVII Miser's Gold XXVIII Kenny's Ward XXIX The Studio Again XXX Playtime XXXI Fate Stabs XXXII On Finlake Mountain XXXIII In the Span of a Day XXXIV A Face XXXV The Penitent XXXVI April XXXVII Honeysuckle Days XXXVIII Arcady Eludes a Seeker XXXIX The Tension Snaps XL The King of Youth XLI When the Isle of Delight Receded XLII The End of Kenny's Song
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Joan . . . . . . Frontispiece
He was sailing across, to romance he hoped, and surely to mystery
"'Tis Samhain, Adam," said Kenny, "the summer ending of the druids"
"I love you better than my life," Joan said, "and I may--may never--say it again"
KENNY
CHAPTER I
BRIAN REBELS
"You needn't repeat it," said Brian with a flash of his quiet eyes. "This time, Kenny, I mean to stay disinherited."
Kennicott O'Neill stared at his son and gasped. The note of permanency in the chronic rite of disinheritance was startling. So was something in the set of Brian's chin and the flush of anger burning steadily beneath the dark of his skin. Moreover, his eyes, warmly Irish like his father's, and ordinarily humorous and kind, remained unflinchingly aggressive.
With the air of an outraged emperor, the older man strode across the studio and rapped upon his neighbor's wall for arbitration.
"Garry may be in bed," said Brian,
"And he may not." It was much the same to Kenny.
He was a splendid figure--that Irishman. His gorgeous Persian slippers curled at the toes and ended in a pair of scarlet heels. The extraordinary mandarin combination of oriental magnificence and the rags he affected for a bathrobe, hung from a pair of shoulders noticeably broad and graceful. If he wore his frayed splendor with a certain picturesque distinction, it was the way he did all things, even his delightful brogue which was if anything a shade too mellifluous to be wholly unaffected. What Kenny liked he kept if he could, even his irresponsible youth and gayety.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: Kenny by Leona Dalrymple
- 2: And he didn't mean to smash the statuette
- 3: I've already been disinherited
- 4: It's not just the shotgun Garry
- 5: Garry laughed aloud at the wrathful search for grievance
- 6: If anybody suffered it was Kenny
- 7: He left Kenny amazed and aggrieved at his desertion
- 8: There were bouillon cups everywhere
- 9: John Whitaker looked unimpressed
- 10: Whitaker patiently reassembled his supper
- 11: Said Kenny with biting sarcasm
- 12: There was a modicum of enjoyment with Whitaker around
- 13: He expressed his opinion of Whitaker
- 14: Began Kenny with bitter fluency
- 15: Kenny felt that he had been visited by Far Darrig
- 16: Adventure had endlessly stalked Kenny for its own
- 17: Was always a bad sign with Kenny
- 18: It was a pretty job of thrashing but it did him good
- 19: Living in a corncrib on seven cents a day
- 20: Said Kenny with detestable confidence
- 21: Supplemented Kenny with the calm
- 22: Thus Kenny departed from the Holbein Club
- 23: Kenny had delightful substitute
- 24: Brian had lived in a corncrib for seven cents a day
- 25: I'm comin' into my own corncrib
- 26: The corncrib would revert to Silas
- 27: One day in a corncrib he wrote grimly
- 28: Leath Macha had returned to the negro and a diet of pickets
- 29: Kenny conversely had found the village first
- 30: Kenny stared at it in some resentment
- 31: Kenny denied himself nothing that he wanted
- 32: Kenny turned away and gathered up his letters
- 33: With Peredur for precedent Kenny laughed softly
- 34: Inwardly in turmoil Kenny took the plunge
- 35: Kenny came to earth for an instant
- 36: Kenny sighed as he turned his eyes from her
- 37: Kenny peered into room after room with a fascinated shiver
- 38: A wild and lonely dryad of a girl in a mended gown
- 39: Kenny thought of the runaway who hated him
- 40: Went on to the tale of Conoclach and the first harp
- 41: Said Kenny purposely misunderstanding
- 42: And Kenny was kind to her uncle and to her
- 43: He helped Hannah churn and sang with a soft brogue
- 44: I myself have seen the chunk he threw away
- 45: Kenny as usual cursed the horn
- 46: Without the brandy Kenny nodded his approval
- 47: Kenny told without interruption
- 48: Kenny was Irish and conversational
- 49: In the light of the Craig and Whitaker analysis
- 50: Kenny caught his breath and stood still
- 51: After what seemed to Kenny a long
- 52: At the wistaria ladder Kenny sighed
- 53: Whistled Kenny softly at the window
- 54: ' explained Kenny with a grin
- 55: Kenny remembered the fairy mill and wondered
- 56: Kenny struck himself fiercely on the forehead
- 57: Kenny blessed the village congregation that had sent Mr
- 58: That he should write down in his notebook
- 59: And he thought of course of the legend of Killarney
- 60: Kenny stared out at the wet valley in tragic unbelief
- 61: Kenny in the best of spirits went downstairs
- 62: Kenny shuddered and looked away
- 63: Kenny did not trouble to reply
- 64: Kenny and his megaphone returned to the fray
- 65: That he felt was the kindest way
- 66: As scandalized as only Kenny could be
- 67: Brian and Garry to the contrary
- 68: And the fool says I'm overdrawn
- 69: That makes your balance overdrawn
- 70: Kenny drew himself up to his full height
- 71: Kreiling laughed indulgently and beckoned Jan to the piano
- 72: Caught unawares Garry flushed and stammered
- 73: Hazleton said you are brilliantly skillful
- 74: Said Kenny with icy politeness
- 75: Kenny went of his own accord to Adam's sitting room
- 76: Brian made a fence of forked twigs
- 77: Brian turned a charred sausage and sighed
- 78: And Brian had failed to have his say
- 79: The gesture reminded Brian irresistibly of Kenny
- 80: There was Samhain or summer ending
- 81: Kenny had often mourned for departed madness
- 82: Kenny struck off hurriedly toward the south
- 83: And Uncle sent Hughie for you long ago
- 84: Cried Kenny gayly and poured himself some brandy
- 85: Kenny shivered with resentment
- 86: And Kenny was passionately glad that his words were a riddle
- 87: Kenny sculled the old punt back and forth
- 88: The coach toiled up the hill and Kenny
- 89: Kenny held her tight and found his courage
- 90: It's the kind of Bohemia I love
- 91: For an interval Kenny stood stock still
- 92: Kenny opened the will and began to read
- 93: Kenny struck his head fiercely with his hand
- 94: Kenny fumed off barnwards in search of Hughie
- 95: Kenny shuddered at the homely phrase
- 96: Kenny climbed out of bed and dressed
- 97: Kenny could see the doctor already at his breakfast
- 98: Sick with discouragement Kenny pointed to the will
- 99: And I said Kenny with a sharp intake of his breath
- 100: Almost Kenny could hear him chuckle Checkmate
- 101: Kenny went sick and cold and shivered
- 102: Roared Kenny in a flash of temper
- 103: The need was desperate and Kenny did his best
- 104: Kenny toyed absently with the food upon his plate
- 105: Said Hughie with an air of pride
- 106: Hughie thinks it must be paralyzed
- 107: Kenny tried scolding and found her sorry
- 108: Said Kenny in heartfelt gratitude
- 109: Garry came at once in bathrobe and slippers
- 110: And I'm so darned sick of anticlimaxes
- 111: If you don't run along to Madame Morny
- 112: Peggy kissed her and rummaged for cigarettes
- 113: Kenny had had his flare with Peggy
- 114: Kenny danced her the length of the gallery
- 115: Whereat Kenny called up the Times office
- 116: But I told her you're hardly ever a guardian
- 117: Aranyi has asked me to pose in the gold brocade
- 118: He stared curiously at Kenny and shook his head
- 119: This is Doctor Cole of Briston
- 120: I myself will meet you at Finlake
- 121: Two receivers clicked and Kenny
- 122: At the table Kenny hurriedly wrote a check
- 123: At Finlake they began to climb
- 124: He followed Kenny up the stairway
- 125: He knew Kenny much too well to trust him further
- 126: Kenny was moving toward the stairway
- 127: Kenny drove him to the Finlake station
- 128: Kenny wrung his hand in silence
- 129: I bought a corncrib and a mule
- 130: Kenny again wiped his forehead
- 131: Kenny confided to Joan in some distress
- 132: Brian and Joan and Don and he himself
- 133: Brian called his days of convalescence
- 134: Brian glanced at her in droll suspicion
- 135: There's Hannah with the tablecloth
- 136: Where shall the unthrift lover drive on such a night
- 137: Said Kenny instantly and kissed her
- 138: Kenny wrote to Garry in September
- 139: Brian crushed his lips against her cheek
- 140: CHAPTER XLTHE KING OF YOUTHTen minutes later Kenny
- 141: There was a clanking in his ears
- 142: He thought of a lantern and Samhain
- 143: Joan covered her face with her hands
- 144: You and Brian would never understand
- 145: Kenny lay back in his chair and closed his eyes
- 146: Kenny opened his eyes with a start
- 147: Garry wheeled and found a wistful
- 148: Daredevil glints laughed in Kenny's eyes
- 149: I'll bless thee o'er and o'er Eileen a roon